I Know What Disconnection Feels Like
Katie Blackthorn Katie Blackthorn

I Know What Disconnection Feels Like

It's tempting to treat reconnection as a project of self-improvement — becoming someone more evolved, more present, more "healed" than you were before. But that framing sets up the same trap as the utilitarian mindset: an outcome to chase rather than a relationship to return to

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Listening to the Body
Katie Blackthorn Katie Blackthorn

Listening to the Body

Before the big breakthrough, before the "aha" moment people describe in dramatic retellings, there's usually a smaller signal the body already gave — one that's easy to talk yourself out of noticing.

A tightness that eased for no clear reason. A night of sleep that felt different in texture, not just length. A flicker of creativity that showed up uninvited. These aren't side notes to the real work. They're the medicine's first language. And learning to listen to the subtle signal, before it has to escalate into something louder, is half the practice.

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What Does It Mean to Build a Relationship With Plant Medicine? (Not Just Use It)
Katie Blackthorn Katie Blackthorn

What Does It Mean to Build a Relationship With Plant Medicine? (Not Just Use It)

There’s nothing wrong with wanting relief. But a transaction has a beginning and an end: you show up, you receive something, you leave, it’s done. A relationship isn’t like that. It asks something of you in the spaces between the ceremonies, not just during them. It doesn’t reward urgency. It won’t hand over what you came for just because you’re ready to receive it on your timeline.

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What Actually Happens in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy
Katie Blackthorn Katie Blackthorn

What Actually Happens in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

People imagine the ketamine is the work — that you take it and it does something to you. It doesn't work that way. Here's what ketamine-assisted psychotherapy actually involves: the preparation, the journey, and the integration where the real change happens.

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Why I Left the VA—and What I Learned About Real Healing for Veterans

Why I Left the VA—and What I Learned About Real Healing for Veterans

After ten years providing therapy to veterans within the VA system, I realized true healing can’t be measured by metrics or manuals. It happens in relationship, in listening, and in caring for the whole person. In this reflection, I share what I learned from a decade in the system—and why I now offer a more holistic, heart-centered path for veterans and others seeking deeper healing.

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Dopamine Addiction and the Seven of Swords: A call to steal back our attention
tarot & archetypes, mental health, wellness Katie Blackthorn tarot & archetypes, mental health, wellness Katie Blackthorn

Dopamine Addiction and the Seven of Swords: A call to steal back our attention

This week I’ve been doing a deep dive into the world of Dopamine. What it is, how it shapes motivation and survival, and how companies exploit that science to keep us hooked. Essentially, dopamine is the neurotransmitter that drives motivation, helping us seek food, water, shelter, and sex–the basics for survival. Under chronic stress (and who isn’t stressed these days, with you know, *waves hands at everything*), dopamine levels drop, leaving us less motivated to care for ourselves and meet those basic needs. In an effort to restore balance, our body then craves quick “hits” of scrolling, sugar, shopping, a drink, anything that gives us a surge of dopamine. The problem is that dopamine operates in short bursts that create fleeting pleasure that leaves us wanting more.

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The Journey is the Medicine

The Journey is the Medicine

Sacred plant medicines were never meant to be reduced to protocols and prescriptions. They are teachers, not treatments. And if we try to fit them into the same broken system they’re meant to heal, we’ll lose their magic–and miss the point.

For thousands of years, traditional and indigenous cultures have approached psychedelic plant medicines with reverence–tending to the plants, giving offerings in gratitude, honoring them and recognizing them as spiritual teachers. They have listened to the teachings of the plants and fungi and have created ceremony and sacred space to commune with these sacred teachers. The true medicine lies in these ceremonies and sacred spaces where we build a relationship with the spirit of the medicines. In listening, learning, and approaching these sacred teachers with respect and humility, and thanking them for sharing their wisdom with us. The journey is the point. The discomfort, the hallucinations, they are the point. They are also our teachers. They show us where we are imbalanced, out of alignment, where we are holding onto or carrying things that are ready to be released.

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Let’s do healing differently…
Katie Blackthorn Katie Blackthorn

Let’s do healing differently…

…This is why I am doing things differently. The modern healthcare system in the U.S. is broken, and I refuse to contribute to that system. Instead, I choose to be the change I want to see—to build a practice that I would seek help from and would encourage my loved ones to visit also. To put into practice the wisdom I have accumulated through fourteen years of my own soul searching and healing journey along with my training and experience as a trauma therapist, folk herbalist, tarot reader, nature-based spiritual practitioner, historian, and student of curanderismo. To honor these lineages, to gather the wisdom and viewpoints and experiences from each in my handwoven basket and build a practice that blends traditional wisdom with modern knowledge, and to share it with you. This is my devotion to Mother Nature, and to humanity, in my own personal way. So that I may be of service to you.

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